Hoochy Coochy Dancing and Fantasy Love

“Why are you, with your impec­cable cre­dent­ials, study­ing nude danc­ing?” The ques­tion was ask­ed by news­paper repor­ters to an­thro­po­lo­gist, edu­cator, wri­ter and dance cri­tic Ju­dith Lyn­ne Han­na when she did her field work on strip­tease clubs (also cal­led exo­tic dance caba­rets or gent­lemen’s clubs). “I am an an­thro­po­lo­gist,” Han­na blunt­ly ex­plain­ed. “An­thro­po­lo­gists study hu­man be­havior.” Han­na has been an ex­pert court wit­ness in cases re­lated to fre­edom of spe­ech and ex­otic dance in the Uni­ted Sta­tes, and in “Ethno­gra­phy Chal­leng­es Fal­se Myth­olo­gy” she ana­lyz­es how lo­cali­ties try to re­gu­late strip­tease clubs out of busi­ness. We are proud to say that Han­na is co-edit­ing the “Hoo­chy Coo­chy Dan­cing and Fan­tasy Love”-sect­ion of Amer­ican Ethno­graphy, in which we have gath­ered a hand­ful of, dare we say, “sin-sational” stuff.

* hoochy coochy is slang for a sexually suggestive dance. • "She let her hair down and she did the hoochie-coochie real slow" (Elvis in Roustabout, 1964). • "[W]e … headed straight for North Clark Street … to see the hootchy-kootchy joints and hear the bop" (On The Road by Jack Kerouac, 1957).

Lap dancer:

Photographer Juliana Beasley worked eight years as a professional nude dancer, using her camera to document the clubs she worked in, her co-workers, and the customers. Here are some of her photos.

Dancing for Dollars:

Sociologist Danielle Egan also worked as a striptease dancer and wrote about it. Here is an excerpt from her book Dancing for Dollars and Paying for Love.

Lust-creating waltz:

In 1892 Thomas Faulkner writes in his From the Ball-Room to Hell about “the degrading lust-creating influence of the waltz.” It's hilarious reading, so we bring you chapter one, “First and Last Step,” from the book.

G-Strings and Sympathy:

Anthropologist Katherine Frank has written a beautiful book, G-Strings and Sympathy, analyzing the “regulars” (patrons who regularly visit a club to see a particular dancer) in the clubs she worked in as a stripper. We have a chapter from the book for you, “Searching for Escape.”